Mark Moshe Kasher[1] (born July 6, 1979)[2][3] is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in the Los Angeles area.
[2][4] He is the author of the 2012 memoir Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16.
[2][6] Kasher grew up in North Oakland's Temescal[2] and Piedmont Avenue neighborhoods,[7] and his family lived mostly on disability assistance and food stamps.
[8] Kasher attended community college in the Bay Area, where he studied theater and wrote several long-form monologues.
[2][10][13] In the mid to late 2000s, he participated in many comedy shows with fellow comedians Brent Weinbach and Alex Koll.
[4][5] Kasher's stand-up act has been featured on such television programs as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2010[2][13] and John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show in 2011.
[10][24][25] In addition to the iTunes awards in 2009, Kasher was named "Comic to Watch in 2010" by Punchline Magazine[4] as well as "One of the Top 20 Jews In The Arts" by Shalom Life in 2011.
[2][28][29] In September 2016, Comedy Central ordered a talk show series to be written and hosted by Kasher, entitled Problematic,[30] which premiered on April 18, 2017.
[37] Kasher played the role of Ruben — a gay, deaf man confined to a wheelchair — in an episode of the U.S. television series Shameless which aired March 18, 2012.
[38][39] In 2011, Kasher, along with Neal Brennan (co-writer of Chappelle's Show) and DJ Douggpound (Doug Lussenhop of Tim and Eric Nite Live!
[13] Kasher said the following of the podcast in a 2011 interview with SanDiego.com: "It’s Doug dropping sound effects and beats over me and Neal kind of hosting an hour of ridiculous chat.
"[13] Guests of the show included actor/comedians Wayne Brady and David Alan Grier, as well as musician Questlove, adult film star Lexington Steele and professional basketball player Blake Griffin.
[42] The first episode was about harems and the expert was Jillian Lauren, author of Some Girls, while Pete Holmes and Beth Stelling made up the comedic panel.
[43] On 15 July 2019, The Endless Honeymoon Podcast co-hosted with his wife, Natasha Leggero, premiered on most platforms such as Apple,[44] Spotify,[45] Stitcher[46] and YouTube.